United Arab Emirates | Horse Racing Free Tips

Purses Increased For 2023-2024 Meydan Racing Season As More Changes Announced

Purses will rise 27% during the 2023-2024 Dubai racing season at Meydan Racecourse, the Dubai Racing Club announced earlier this week.

The new minimum purse of AED165,000 will be for non-stakes races, while all Group 1 races will be increased to a purse of at least AED1 million. The prize-money of $30.5 million on Dubai World Cup night will remain unchanged. In addition, all Meydan cards will feature nine races except for the first two.

Other changes revealed by the DRC include two new feature race nights: Festive Friday on Dec. 22 and Fashion Friday on Jan. 26, while Super Saturday will be held on Mar. 2, and Dubai World Cup night is set for Mar. 30. Racing at Meydan begins on Friday, Nov. 10.

“The DRC management and board have decided to reshape racing in Dubai, to improve sustainability in line with what is happening in the region,” said Major General Dr. Mohammed Essa Al Adhab, Executive Director of Dubai Racing Club. “Today, many countries are going along with Dubai and the UAE by using racing to showcase their development, a journey which Dubai started much earlier.

“The Dubai Racing Carnival has now become the whole season. Horses can now come to Dubai from the start of the season until the Dubai World Cup.”

Stephanie Cooley, International Manager for DRC, added, “From an international perspective, we still have our quarantine facilities, plus trainers also have the option of shifting over to a local stable. It's a more condensed season but we have retained all of the feature races and aligned them more with some of the bigger races in the region.”

British horses will also now have more travel options when visiting the Middle East.

“Horses trained in the UK have the option of 90 days temporary import, with the option of going in and out,” said Erwan Charpy, Advisor to the DRC. “They can also come on a permanent import and go back with a 30-day quarantine or go back as temporary import. There are discussions to get England to line up with the regulations in the European Union, as since Brexit there is almost no problem with horses going back to the EU without quarantine on a permanent import.

“The import certificate was previously just for the Dubai Racing Club, but now it is for the Middle East, which allows for more freedom of movement.”

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UAE Fixture List Approved For 2023-24

The tracks of the Emirates Racing Association (ERA) will stage a total of 61 meetings in 2023-2024 after the fixture list was given the stamp of approval by His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Presidential Court and Chairman of the ERA.

The racing season in the Emirates begins Oct. 28 at Al Ain Racecourse and continues the following day at Sharjah Longines Racecourse. Jebel Ali Racecourse will open its doors for the first time on Nov. 4, and racing at Abu Dhabi begins Nov. 9. The first of 15 meetings of the Dubai Racing Carnival is opening night of Meydan Racecourse will be Friday, Nov. 10. The Dubai World Cup card will take place Mar. 30.

His Highness Sheikh Mansour said, “We are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 racing programme and look forward to another successful racing season for horse trainers, owners and all connections across the entire racecourses of the UAE.

“We offer racing for domestic and international horses in both the thoroughbred and Purebred Arabian ranks. We are keen to put on another great show for everyone starting from Oct. 28 this year.

He continued: “The last season was phenomenal in terms of changes and improvements across the board. It has elevated the competitive and professional nature of the UAE racing and its attractiveness for runners from all over the world.”

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Desert Debuters: ‘Mischief’ At Meydan

In this series, we will have a look at first-time starters entered for age-restricted maiden races on the week's main live program at Meydan Racecourse, focusing specifically on pedigree and/or performance in sales ring, both domestic and abroad. With the exception of Thursday, Dec. 1, Super Saturday, Mar. 4, and Dubai World Cup night Mar. 25, the main meeting at Meydan takes place on Fridays. Six meetings are to be staged at the UAE's flagship racecourse prior to the start of the Dubai World Cup Carnival Friday, Jan. 6, 2023. Nine Carnival cards are programmed from January through March. Here is a look at this week's entries:

2nd-Meydan, AED82,500 ($22,464), 2yo, f, 1200m

A field of 10 American-bred juvenile fillies heads to the gate in the first Thoroughbred race on Friday's program. Last year's leading trainer Bhupat Seemar sends out MISCHIEVOUS AGE (Into Mischief) for prominent owner Mrs. Fitri Hay, who paid the equivalent of $437,533 for the Jan. 18 foal at last year's inaugural Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale held during World Cup week. Also a $45,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling, the bay was bred by Roy and Gretchen Jackson and is out of their crack turf sprinter Ageless (Successful Appeal), a two-time and track record-setting winner of the GIII Royal North S. at Woodbine and six-time stakes winner overall. Antonio Fresu has the call.

Mimi Kakushi (City of Light) is the first local starter for her first-crop sire (by Quality Road) and is out of the dual Grade II winner Rite Moment (Vicar), also the dam of MSW Moment Is Right (Medaglia d'Oro) and SW Laudation (Congrats). A $180,000 graduate of last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale, the bay fetched $250,000 at the auction house's Midlantic sale this past May.

Bijjlee (War Front) is the first foal to the races from Dancing Rags (Union Rags), winner of the 2016 GI Darley Alcibiades S. A $170,000 acquisition by Grove Stud at KEESEP last fall, Bijjlee was hammered down to Satish Seemar for 220,000gns ($300,388) at this year's Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale (video). Dancing Rags is a half-sister to MGSW/GISP Coup de Grace (Tapit), while the filly's third dam is champion and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Jewel Princess (Key to the Mint).

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Hair-Raising Drug Positive Disclosed In United Arab Emirates

Among a handful of stewards rulings distributed this week by the Emirates Racing Authority in the United Arab Emirates was one that could make the hair on the back of a trainer's neck stand up.

Trainer Ahmed bin Harmash was fined 25,000 UAE dirhams (about US$6,800) and the horse Sa'ada was disqualified from a Nov. 27, 2020, win at Jebel Ali Racecourse after the prohibited substance minoxidil was detected in a post-race sample by the Dubai Equine Forensic Unit. The drug was subsequently confirmed in a split sample.

According to the ruling, bin Harmash was “unable to offer an explanation for the findings” until he was advised of the nature of the substance. Minoxidil is a “human product used to treat hypertension and baldness,” according to the ruling, which went on to say that the drug “would act upon the cardiovascular system, have the potential to decrease exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH), altering the horse's performance and there is considered a prohibited substance under the ERA Rules of Racing.”

Minoxidil is an ingredient in numerous over-the-counter hair-growth products, including Rogaine.

It was after being notified of what the drug is used for that bin Harmash produced a bottle of “New Hair Lotion” he obtained from the exercise rider of Sa'ada. The same individual was the regular exercise rider for two other horses in bin Harmash's barn and the trainer requested that they be withdrawn from upcoming races out of caution and also be tested for the drug. One of the two horses tested positive for minoxidil.

Despite evidence that the positive test likely resulted from contamination, stewards nevertheless disqualified the horse and levied the fine against the trainer.

This was not the first time a hair-growth product led to the disqualification of a performance horse for minoxidil. In 2017, a horse tested positive for the drug following a showjumping event in South Africa. An investigation by the governing body of the sport, the FEI, discovered that the horse's owner was a longtime user of a hair-growth product containing minoxidil and likely transferred enough of the drug to the horse while hand-feeding grass to him.

The post Hair-Raising Drug Positive Disclosed In United Arab Emirates appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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